Everton finally brought their longest winless run in the clubs history at Anfield to an end after an early Richarlison strike was followed up by a late Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty to claim a historic win.
The blue half of the city have endured a decade of utter misery in this fixture, which had seen Everton go 23 games without victory - their last coming at Goodison Park in 2010.
For Jurgen Klopp, his side have now lost four consecutive home league games for the first since 1923 as they find themselves level on points with Everton in 6th, and five points off a Champions League place.
Carlo Ancelotti writes his name in Everton history as he becomes the first Toffees manager since David Moyes to win a Merseyside Derby, and the first since Walter Smith to leave Anfield with all three points.
After a painful 21 years, the Toffees finally celebrate success on their neighbour’s soil.
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Win for supporters
Everton substitutes Niels Nkounkou and Tyler Onyango were yet to be born the last time the Blues won at Anfield, with captain Seamus Coleman being Everton’s only current player to have experienced a derby win.
A proud Ancelotti gifted the momentous result to the Everton supporters post-match:
“I am really happy for the club and the supporters- I couldn’t imagine what they would have been like here tonight- but for sure they will all be celebrating. It was a good performance, we fought with a lot of spirit and I am really happy."
“Every Evertonian is happy tonight.”
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Praise of players
The jubilant scenes at full time perfectly summarised how much victory meant for Everton as a whole. Each player gave their all out on the pitch, and they were fully deserved of their win against the crestfallen Premier League champions.
Ancelotti praised his side’s attitude, and says he is proud of his team who deserve the moment:
“I am proud of my team, they deserve this moment. This is a squad that didn’t believe in this kind of moment a lot of times but this game says to us we can compete with these teams showing that attitude."
Jordan Pickford's fantastic performance between the sticks inspired Everton to victory, with the No.1 making crucial saves to deny Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah from levelling the scores.
The England international has faced criticism this season, but Ancelotti says his keeper has accepted this and deserves this performance:
“He did really well and honestly it was deserved. Jordan accepted the critics which in this world is what you have to do, and then try to be better, which he did. He was confident in goal, and his performance was top.”
Having only scored two league goals before the start of the month, Richarlison has netted in both his last two league outings for the first time since February 2020.
Ancelotti once again hailed the Brazilian’s performance as well as the showing from James Rodriguez, who provided the assist for the forwards opener, his eighth in all competitions so far this season:
“Richarlison is back. He is now scoring and playing with consistency. James is always the same. He may not have the physicality of the others but he has better quality.”
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European aims
The Toffees now sit on the same number of points as Klopp’s side and, with a game in hand, could see themselves move level on points with Chelsea in fifth with a win.
The Everton boss admits his side are in a good position in their fight for European qualification, but he also says now is a time for his team to celebrate, if only for one night:
“We are fighting for Europe and are now in a good position. This kind of performance has helped to improve the belief of the team."
"We now have a rest after a tough period where we played every three days. This is a good period for us now to prepare well for our next game, to give rest to the players who are working really hard but now is the time to celebrate… but only tonight.”